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Apple Announces iPhone 4
In a keynote presentation today at WWDC, Steve Jobs officially unveiled the iPhone 4. It's powered by an A4 chip, has a glass front and back, and has stainless steel around the edges, which turns out to be part of the antenna system. The new iPhone uses what Jobs called a "Retina display," running at 960x640, or 326 ppi. The battery is also bigger, with a corresponding increase in battery life. The iPhone 4 supports 802.11n, has two mics for noise cancellation, and a three-axis gyroscope, which allows rotation and precision that accelerometers can't match. The iPhone 4's camera is using a 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor, which Jobs said does better at low-light photography. It also records 720p video at 30 frames per second, with tap-to-focus. In addition to this, they've created an iMovie app, which allows users to easily edit videos on their phone. Several live blogs of the event, with pictures, are available. The device ships in the US on June 24. Apple's product page has been updated with specs and a video. Read on for more details.
Update: 06/07 18:34 GMT by S : Steve's "One More Thing" this time around: FaceTime, live video chat from one iPhone 4 to another. It is Wi-Fi only at the moment, but they're working with carriers to expand that in the future. Jobs says the iPhone 4 OS is being renamed "iOS4," since it isn't just focused on phones anymore. The release candidate will be made available to developers today. He demonstrated multitasking, a unified email inbox, and folders for apps. In the App Store, you can expect to see an iPhone version of Netflix soon, as well as Guitar Hero and FarmVille. Jobs also announced that iBooks, the ebook application for the iPad, would be getting a few upgrades. Users will soon be able to make notes, and a bookmark button is on the way. It will put bookmarked pages into the book's table of contents. iBooks is also gaining support for viewing PDF files. On top of that, it won't be just for the iPad anymore; it's coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch as well, and it will sync between devices.
Update: 06/07 18:34 GMT by S : Steve's "One More Thing" this time around: FaceTime, live video chat from one iPhone 4 to another. It is Wi-Fi only at the moment, but they're working with carriers to expand that in the future. Jobs says the iPhone 4 OS is being renamed "iOS4," since it isn't just focused on phones anymore. The release candidate will be made available to developers today. He demonstrated multitasking, a unified email inbox, and folders for apps. In the App Store, you can expect to see an iPhone version of Netflix soon, as well as Guitar Hero and FarmVille. Jobs also announced that iBooks, the ebook application for the iPad, would be getting a few upgrades. Users will soon be able to make notes, and a bookmark button is on the way. It will put bookmarked pages into the book's table of contents. iBooks is also gaining support for viewing PDF files. On top of that, it won't be just for the iPad anymore; it's coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch as well, and it will sync between devices.
Just get an Android phone. From a hardware perspective, the newest Android phones like the Droid Incredible are pretty close to this (or even exceed it in a few areas still), and they don't have the draconian policies. My bet is that HTC will soon leapfrog Apple once again (afterall, this thing just barely bests the Incredible, which has been out for a month or two) pretty soon. My next upgrade isn't due until this December and I'm guessing there will be some REALLY nice stuff out by then (I know HTC will have jumped one iteration by then, but I'm crossing my fingers on them being two iterations forward by then).
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
If they had any intention of trying to sue over something like that, Nintendo would've been in court already.
For those playing at home, IOS4 is a really old version of the Cisco router operating system and a version of the Wii kernel used to load the initial contents of a Wii console's flash chip. But then what abbreviation isn't taken nowadays?
One thing that the past has taught us, is that resolution != quality. Sure, it can shoot 720, but without a decent lens or good sensor, most of those pixels will be just noise anyway. I'm not saying that it's bad, I'm just saying that just because it's 5mp and 720 doesn't mean that it'll give better quality than a 1mp and 320 x 240... It's one of those things that we'll have to wait for the reviews to see...
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
"Quad Band" means it supports 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies, and all of those are GSM (voice) frequencies, not 3G (HSDPA/USM) frequencies. Unless it says 1700/2100 MHz for data access, T-Mo won't work. It's probably 850/2100MHz USM/CDMA which is what AT&T uses.
(Says the guy who owns a factory Nokia phone which only gets EDGE because of the above issue).
... And so it comes to this.
without a decent lens or good sensor, most of those pixels will be just noise anyway.
Apparently that's pretty close to what Jobs said in the keynote. He said the new camera not only shoots 720 but it does this with a larger sensor so the sensor elements still capture a decent amount of photons and don't lose quality. He also said they use better lenses. We'll see exactly how it pans out but the shots of pictures taken with the 3G model vs the new 4G model show that there's been a huge jump in quality.
Sapere aude!
They licensed the name iOS to Apple. mentioned in the cnet live feed http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20006866-260.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1
The Wii "wiimote" Controller has three MEMS linear accelerometers. The Wii "Motion Plus" adapters plug into the wiimote, and add three MEMS angular accelerometers, which are also very commonly referred as gyroscopic sensors. If the phone has the gyro sensors, it can sense relative tilt motions, but can't sense its own position relative to gravity when held still or sitting on a dock. The linear accelerometers work best at slow gestures, like those found in marble games or augmented reality windows. If it has all six sensors, which I expect it does, then there are a lot of quick and slow motion gestures you can do very accurately.
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Actually, it has something like this 4x4x0.9mm ITG-3200 Triple-Axis Digital-Output Gyroscope. Not one, but three real MEMS gyroscopes in a single surface-mount IC package.
Yes, they actually can make them that small these days. Amazing, isn't it?
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Very true. It was hard to convince my mom that her $149 point and shoot digital at 12MP couldn't match my old (ancient, in technology terms) Canon Digital Rebel XT that was "only" 8MP. The reality though is that despite having only 2/3's of the pixel count, my camera takes pictures that look WORLDS better. Side by side shots finally convinced her.
Just like the Mhz myth for processors, cameras also can't simply be measuring in megapixels.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
On their specification Page.
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
sonofabitch.
Worst name EVAR!
A more accurate name would be "back-wired sensor". Like the human eye, older cameras had the wiring in front of the sensor elements. Back-illuminated ones have the wiring in the back. That gets you about 45% more light, because it doesn't have to make it past the wiring and transistors.
Been around for a while, but only making its way into the consumer space recently. Basically boosts your low-light performance by roughly half. That means you can either double the number of pixels per space and still get the same performance (which is what apple did), or leave the spacing alone and make killer security cameras and astronomy sensors.
In either event, this really is a major jump in camera tech. I'll be interested to know if they also used Sony's CMOS process for it.
Maury
Very true. It was hard to convince my mom that her $149 point and shoot digital at 12MP couldn't match my old (ancient, in technology terms) Canon Digital Rebel XT that was "only" 8MP. The reality though is that despite having only 2/3's of the pixel count, my camera takes pictures that look WORLDS better. Side by side shots finally convinced her.
Just like the Mhz myth for processors, cameras also can't simply be measuring in megapixels.
Another huge factor is the quality of the glass. The lowest-noise, highest-contrast, most-linear, biggest Dmax sensor in the world isn't going to give you good results if it has a cheap-o plastic lens in front of it. (Unless you're looking for that effect, like you get with a Lens Baby.)
Futhermore, designing and manufacturing high-quality lenses is really quite difficult. Putting high-quality glass in a phone-sized device is, currently at least, impossible.
My brother purchased an iPhone when they first came out, and put his photos up on the social networking site Multiply. Downsampled, they looked pretty good. Then, I tried screwing around with them a little in Photoshop to understand more. Full resolution, they suck. Sure, they're not bad for a phone, but are worse than the contemporary point-and-shoot I was using, and far, far worse than my DSLR.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
I think Bill Hicks summed advertising up quite accurately:
"There's no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan's little helpers. Okay - kill yourself - seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good, seriously. No this is not a joke, you're going, "there's going to be a joke coming," there's no fucking joke coming. You are Satan's spawn filling the world with bile and garbage. You are fucked and you are fucking us. Kill yourself. It's the only way to save your fucking soul, kill yourself."
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
It's called Gorilla glass, and even the lowly Storm uses it (and has since introduction).
Only apple can get away with touting this as a "new" feature instead of a "new to us" feature and have people think its awesome.
I'm curious, specifically which draconian policy would impair your use and enjoyment of the phone?
1) Standards & Development:
My Nexus One acts as a hard drive with my computer. It uses standard USB cables to connect to it. Tethering with the nexus one had no hassles whatsoever. The Nexus One worked flawlessly with Linux and Windows without the need for drivers, and I did not have to pay for a developers license to start playing with it.
2) Usability:
The Android supports multitasking and as such, has a much more useful "homescreen", which is actually several screens that can contain widgets with uptodate information. The home screen is just an app, I can replace it. The keyboard is just an app, I can replace it. Email is just an app, I can replace it. I can run services in the background with a proper notification system so that I can be properly notified should I choose it from whatever app I install. If I don't like Google's idea of Android, I'm free to install any version of Android I want. I'm free to install any OS that can work with my Nexus One I want.
3) Upgradability:
I can swap the 4gb MicroSD card for a 32gb MicroSD card should I chose to do so, and only pay the costs of the microsd card.
4) Flexibility:
There are no or very little limitations to the kinds of apps available on the market, and nothing stops me from installing apps outside of the market as well. As a developer, I am not limited to what I can make my app do. I am not limited to one programming language to make my app.
iPhone has the exact opposite of all four of these points, and I find that to be horribly draconian.
If I am going to shell out $600 for a device, I intend to use it as I see fit and not be dictated by anyone on how I should use my shiny new toy.
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
At 10-12 inches. As Jobs said in the speech.
Towards the Singularity.
Come on Apple, how do you expect others to respect your trademarks if you don't respect other?
Ever think of checking your facts before commenting? From the FaceTime IM company web site:
"Our agreement with Apple to transfer the FaceTime trademark to them comes as we are rebranding our company to better reflect our capabilities. We will be announcing a new name in the coming months."
Quantity != quality
You know, nobody bought that argument when mac users were saying the same thing about PC applications.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
It was a pretty funny comment from the crowd, I laughed.
Of course it turned out that there were something like 570 wifi base stations operating in the audience and it totally hosed the whole wifi network for the event. Since the iPhones were set to load their data over wifi rather than over the cell network it killed the demos. Once the organizers made people turn off their devices the demos went very smoothly. Funny how that works!
Sapere aude!
You won't get a significantly better picture without increasing the size of the lens, which it doesn't look like Apple is doing.
Actually, looking at pictures of the back of the 3GS and the iPhone 4 - that's exactly what they have been doing. Compare http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone#iphone-compare to http://images.apple.com/iphone/gallery/images/gallery01-20100607.jpg
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck